1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to exercise systems, and more specifically it relates to a portable exercise system designed to adapt a conventional wheelchair for use as a stationary exerciser, facilitating exercise of arms and upper body without requiring any modifications to the wheelchair.
2. Description of Related Art
People are confined to wheelchairs for various health reasons, such as paralysis or strokes. Hospitals and healthcare centers provide the necessary rehabilitation for these people to return home as physically independent as possible. Maintaining this independence requires maintaining upper body strength to push the wheelchair. Most people return to a home with limited space to push the wheelchair for exercise and limited funds to be able to join a gym with exercise facilities comparable those at the hospitals and healthcare centers.
Home exercise systems for building and maintaining upper body strength for pushing a wheelchair, by pushing the wheelchair, has been limited for years to treadmill exercise systems. These systems allow the user to target the necessary muscles needed to push the wheelchair, but several problems exist for the user with these systems. (1) They are expensive. This limits the availability of the system to those with money or good health insurance. (2) They require a lot of floor space. Floor space needed for these systems includes the size of the system and the floor space needed for the user to mount the system. (3) They are heavy. This makes it difficult for someone in a wheelchair to move, making them stationary systems. (4) They apply equal tension resistance to both arms at the same time. This makes these exercise systems difficult to use when one arm is weaker than the other, as is the case in many stroke patients.
There exists a need in the art for a system that allows a person confined to a wheelchair to achieve an upper body workout, and which addresses the above stated problems found in the art. Such a system must: (1) be simple in design and construction so that the system can be relatively inexpensively manufactured, (2) be relatively small and of a lightweight material so the system can be stored easily by the user in a small space and not require a permanent floor space, and (3) have a means to apply the amount of tension resistance to the arms individually in the event that one of the arms is weaker than the other.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an exercise system that satisfies the three aforesaid needs of an exercise system to eliminate the four problems cited previously pertaining to the conventional wheelchair exercise treadmill.